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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through May 30, 2018. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.

The moon is bright through the 30th. It becomes full on the morning of the 29th. Moonset occurs at 3:06 a.m. on the 24th, and at 4:13 a.m., after the start of dawn, on the 26th.

Venus, the brightest planet, and Jupiter, the second brightest planet, are both eye-catching shortly after sunset. Venus is in the western sky until it sets at about 10:30 p.m. Jupiter, in the constellation Libra the Scales, starts the night in the east-southeast sky, but moves up and to the south until it crosses the meridian at 11:30 p.m. Jupiter then descends into the western sky and sets at dawn.

Venus, on the far side of its orbit and beyond the sun, currently shows little through a telescope but its small white disk in a gibbous phase, similar to that shown by the moon four days from full. Venus will appear to grow much larger until it passes nearly between Earth and the sun in about four months. At the same time, its phase wanes and will become crescent at the end of August.

Jupiter, on the other hand, has a lot of interesting details to see through telescopes. Its four largest moons can be seen through binoculars, and more powerful telescopes will show banded patterns of clouds. Its orange oval storm, the Great Red Spot faces the Earth for half of each of Jupiter’s ten-hour-long hour days. It will be visible through telescopes on the west coast at 9:00 p.m. on the 24th, 26th, and 29th. The moon appears close to Jupiter on the 26th and 27th.

The moon, Venus, and Jupiter are the objects currently featured through the public telescopes at Griffith Observatory.

By 1:00 a.m., two more planets are visible above the southeast horizon. The brightest is orange Mars, then the lowest in the sky and set against the backdrop of the constellation Capricornus the Sea Goat. Golden Saturn is to the upper right of Mars, and is in the adjacent constellation Sagittarius the Archer. Saturn is highest in the south at about 3:00 a.m. Mars reaches its highest about two hours later, by which time Saturn will be edging into the western sky.

Saturn’s magnificent ring system, a stunning and memorable sight in nearly any telescope, will be conveniently positioned for early evening viewing late in the summer. At the end of July, Mars will be the closest to Earth that it has been since 2003, and it will move into the evening sky at the same time as Saturn.

Free views of the Sun during the day and of the moon and planets at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for the schedule. The next free public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, June 23rd.

Follow the Sky Report on Twitter for updates of astronomy and space-related events.

From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.